Picture this. It is 2 o’clock in the afternoon and as a responsible parent, you decide to go get your child from Aubry Bend early, expecting to beat the line. You pull onto 179th only to be disappointed. The line is already out of the parking lot. 

A rising issue within the school community is traffic. Who is to blame? Arguably, every member of the driving community. 

Yes, there are inherent flaws in the carpool system, however, we must look to ourselves and truly consider it. Am I one of them? 

Maybe you are an Aubry Bend parent, one that arrives at the parking lot of your children’s school at a ripe 2:15 in the afternoon for pickup. The school doesn’t dismiss until 2:55.

Are you possibly a person who disobeys the alternating lane pattern within the car line? One who, despite being a fully capable driver, has not yet learned the notion of taking turns?

Maybe you are a person who blocks the entire intersection while trying to get in or out of the parking lot. 

Or maybe you are a high school student. A high school student who does not look to see if anyone is coming before turning out of the athletic parking lot. 

Of course, you wouldn’t be able to see even if you did look due to the long line of Aubry Bend parents and Southwest students attempting to turn into the dreaded parking lot.

Either way, this is a problem. Possibly one that requires an intervention process. So what is the resolution to this problem? 

While there may not be a surefire solution to this problem, there are steps that each and every person in the Aubry Bend car line can take to better the situation for every vehicle operator in the general vicinity. 

Looking into options for carpool or bussing, taking turns, waiting a little longer to leave the house, waiting your turn in general: all of these are valid solutions to this problem. 

The greater Southwest community can do better.